Chapter 122 - Wizard May Cry (8)

Glasya-Labolas grimaced and growled harshly.

"Grrrr...!"

"Graaah...!"

He glared at the invisible vampire before him.

'Damn it... If only I'd been summoned in my true body!'

Glasya-Labolas himself was associated with dogs, so the matchup wasn't particularly bad, but there was still a limit to what he could do while possessing a dead dog.

Against a brutish Magical Beast that simply relied on raw strength, he was at a disadvantage in a contest of power.

On top of that, his Contractor, who should have moved long ago, still hadn't.

Glasya-Labolas shouted irritably.

"What are you doing!"

At the shout, I quickly turned around to check behind me.

Standing there was a girl in a hoodie, staring at me with startled eyes.

She was Kim Ha-eun, the girl from the file.

At the demon's shout, Kim Ha-eun flinched. Then she hesitantly averted her gaze and spoke in a trembling voice.

"...That person has nothing to do with this."

"After coming this far, what the hell-!!"

Apparently, they'd planned to coordinate their movements and ambush me, but it hadn't worked out very well.

In the end, Glasya-Labolas shouted in disbelief, darted past Grizzly as though grazing him, and broke away.

Tap-!

He planted himself beside Kim Ha-eun. If even his Contractor was subdued in the current situation, it was over.

But.

"Hold on."

A calm voice rang out, having noticed the girl's hesitation.

"If you don't intend to fight, I don't intend to force a fight either."

I raised both hands slightly to show that I had no intention of fighting.

"So how about we talk for a minute?"

"Don't listen to him. That bastard is the owner of Solomon's grimoire, of all things. It's obviously a trap."

Glasya-Labolas spoke to Ha-eun, but Ha-eun stiffened to a halt.

".........."

Ha-eun didn't say anything, but she seemed willing to listen.

"I'm not going to tell you something like, 'Murder is wrong'."

And judging by how she hesitated against me, someone completely unrelated to her revenge, she still seemed to have her sanity.

"It's just that, like you have an invisible demon with you, I also have an invisible monster with me."

So I laid out what I wanted from her.

"Because of that, I'm being mistaken for the real culprit behind the murders you committed. So could you turn yourself in?"

".........."

Ha-eun remained silent for a moment, then hardened her gaze and spoke in a trembling but resolute voice.

"...I won't turn myself in. I can't yet."

I lowered my raised hands.

"Yeah. That's a shame."

Well, she'd sold even her soul to a demon for revenge. Of course she had no intention of obediently turning herself in.

There was no point dragging the conversation out.

This wasn't something words could solve in the first place, and I had neither the confidence nor the reason to persuade her.

And I'd bought enough time.

At the sound of new presences, Glasya-Labolas turned his head to check and grimaced.

"Damn it...!"

An old man who looked like a Murim Practitioner and a handsome young man with a kind face.

Lee Mun-ryong and Kim Se-geon blocked the escape route.

The higher-ups in the Special Operations Division might have intended for me to face the demon alone, but I had never intended to actually do that.

For the fight against a demon, and in preparation for anything unexpected, I'd called Lee Mun-ryong and Se-geon in advance.

I moved to block the front with Grizzly, surrounding Ha-eun and Glasya-Labolas.

"It's four against two."

Glasya-Labolas glared at me and growled harshly.

"You cowardly bastard-!"

"Did you think you were fighting a saint?"

I lightly mocked the demon, then looked back at Ha-eun and spoke.

"What I offered you earlier was phrased a little indirectly. To put it plainly...."

My black eyes stared straight at Ha-eun.

"I meant you should turn yourself in before I kill you."

Once again, my calm voice rang out toward the girl.

"So I'll ask again. What are you going to do?"

".........!?"

Ha-eun's body, strengthened by the demon's power, trembled with fear.

She could tell from the fight earlier, and from instinct.

The man in the white coat before her really did have the ability and strength to do exactly that.

...But Ha-eun clenched her teeth and raised her eyes in defiance.

"—!"

She didn't say it aloud, but her answer was the same.

Her revenge wasn't over yet.

...But she didn't think she could win even if she fought back.

".........."

And since she still felt resistance toward killing someone unrelated to her revenge, she decided to break through the encirclement in the direction of the person who looked easiest to deal with and escape.

A sturdy old man with a spear, the terrifying man in the white coat, an invisible monster, and a gentle-looking man.

Ha-eun charged at full speed toward Se-geon with Glasya-Labolas.

I watched Ha-eun's retreating back.

From Ha-eun's current perspective, running away was the correct answer.

With the balance of power against her, rather than clumsily fighting first and then trying to escape, it was more efficient to put all her strength into fleeing from the outset and get out of the disadvantageous situation.

But the direction she'd chosen to run in was the wrong answer.

It was true that Se-geon himself was still inexperienced.

Flutter-!

The yellow-covered grimoire <The King in Yellow> in Se-geon's hand opened by itself and began to flap.

Whoooooosh!

Wind gathered around the grimoire and swirled into a vortex.

Because with the power of <The King in Yellow>, Se-geon had the greatest instantaneous firepower among everyone here.

If she was going to target someone, she should've targeted me instead.

My physical abilities had improved through <Baopuzi>'s Breathing Technique, but compared to Lee Mun-ryong, I was basically just a regular person with freakishly high raw stats.

But just as Se-geon stretched out his hand to fire blades of wind.

The gusting wind blew back Ha-eun's hood, revealing her young, childish face.

"—!?"

Startled, Se-geon reflexively withdrew the wind.

My own eyes widened in surprise at the sight.

'That fucking idiot-!'

Glasya-Labolas didn't miss the opening.

The demon's sharp claws tore through the barrier of wind and went for Se-geon's neck and heart.

And Lee Mun-ryong didn't miss the opening either.

Sensing the invisible demon's position through a Martial Artist's instincts, his cold spearhead shot toward Glasya-Labolas's neck.

"Ghk-!"

In the end, Glasya-Labolas jumped backward to evade the spear and retreated away from Se-geon.

But that caused the encirclement to collapse.

Ha-eun ran past Se-geon.

Of course, I had no intention of standing there with my eyes wide open and letting her get away.

"Grizzly!"

"Graaah-!"

Grizzly instantly closed the distance and was about to thrust out his arm to blow apart Ha-eun's fleeing legs.

But Se-geon stepped in between them.

"Wait!"

"—!"

My eyes narrowed automatically at the absurd action.

...I stopped Grizzly's attack.

And naturally, Glasya-Labolas swept Ha-eun up by the waist as she ran and accelerated even faster.

Then he threw himself straight out through the gaping window of the abandoned building and escaped.

".........."

...For now, I calmed myself and thought quickly.

Just because they'd escaped from the abandoned building didn't mean we'd completely lost them.

The Special Operations Division was waiting outside, so they would pursue Ha-eun and the demon after they dropped below.

I just had to join them and continue the pursuit.

Then Se-geon's uneasy voice reached me.

"...Were you trying to kill that kid?"

"Yeah."

There was no time, so I answered casually as I moved, and Se-geon's eyes wavered.

"She's barely middle-school age."

"I can see that."

".........."

At my answer, Se-geon stopped completely.

"Haaaaaah...."

In the end, I stopped walking too, let out a weary breath, and spoke.

The pursuit wasn't the real problem anymore.

"If you were an ordinary civilian or an employee of the Special Operations Division, I would-."

I deliberately adopted a gentle, serious voice.

"Yes, you're right. We shouldn't try to kill a child who contracted with a demon because of tragic circumstances without first looking for a way to persuade or stop her. But because there was a risk of her going berserk, we had no choice."

When I finished, my usual calm, low voice returned.

"-say something suitably convincing like that."

I stared straight at Se-geon as his eyes wavered.

"But you said with your own mouth that you were going to survive as a wizard, so I'll tell you this."

I took one step toward Se-geon.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?"

Se-geon couldn't answer. Faced with Yo-han's hardened expression, he unconsciously flinched and took a step backward.

"If the old man hadn't interfered, you'd be dead right now."

".........!"

Se-geon stiffened and shut his mouth.

"Whether the enemy's a man, a woman, an old person, or a kid, it doesn't matter. Don't go soft."

I continued.

"Sure, just killing someone might not always be the right thing. If we can help them, it's good to help them. If saving them is the best solution, I'll save them without hesitation."

I glanced toward the window Ha-eun had disappeared through.

"But I don't make a hobby of futile gestures. I'm not going to waste time and energy on someone who can't be saved."

I looked away, ending the conversation.

Then, breaking the brief silence.

"Hmmm~ Is this heart-to-heart time between comrades? Then allow me to say something as well."

Lee Mun-ryong suddenly spoke.

"Back when we dealt with that VTuber client, you see. I thought I was reasonably into subculture. So realizing I didn't even know what a VTuber was came as a bit of a shock."

His voice rang with the solemn resolve of a master Martial Artist reflecting upon himself.

"Was this what they meant when they said the Yangtze's rear waves push out the front waves? Was I falling behind the times? So, in order to work my way back upstream-."

Lee Mun-ryong's eyes flew wide open.

"I tried watching one of those girls' band anime."

I blinked automatically.

'What? What the hell kind of story is he starting now?'

"I ended up watching BanG Dream! 'It's MyGO!!!!!' and 'Ave Mujica'. Since the names were different, I thought they were different series, but they're essentially seasons one and two."

Ignoring my reaction, Lee Mun-ryong continued talking by himself.

"At first, I figured, it's just a girls' band anime. I thought it'd be all ha ha ho ho~ eating sweet snacks, hanging out, singing, and playing guitar."

He nodded to himself in understanding.

"Wow~ It was much better made than I expected. Tomori, who writes lyrics because there's something she wants to convey but can't properly put it into words."

I blinked again.

'...Who's Tomori?'

"Anon, who keeps moving forward even as she wanders in fear of her past failure. Taki, whose words and attitude are rough but who's kind at heart. Soyo, who agonizes while remembering the precious place she lost. And Raana, who just enjoys playing guitar."

'Who the fuck are Anon, Taki, and Soyo now? And why is Raana the only one who's just happy playing guitar?'

"So I watched all the way through season two, 'Ave Mujica.' And after finishing it, this thought occurred to me. Huh? Shouldn't these girls be getting psychological counseling before forming a band?"

I finally couldn't take it anymore and cut in.

"...Then why the hell did you watch it?"

"No, regardless of that impression, it was genuinely entertaining. Every single episode was a dopamine-party drama."

How should I put it? I was so dumbfounded that all the tension drained out of me.

"Haa...."

I sighed and spoke to Lee Mun-ryong.

"I'm going to cooperate with the Special Operations Division from here on. Take that guy and go back to the hotel."

The same trick wouldn't work on the demon twice, and with Se-geon in his current state, he'd only get in the way even if he stayed.

I left first.

Lee Mun-ryong smiled lightly and gave the stiff Se-geon a thump on the back with his palm.

"You don't bother giving harsh advice to someone you wouldn't care if they dropped dead right now."

"...Is that so."

Lee Mun-ryong watched Yo-han's retreating back with calm eyes and recalled what Yo-han had said earlier.

'Don't go soft, huh....'

Had he still not realized it himself? Or had he realized it and deliberately said it aloud to keep himself wary?

Se-geon had always been soft-hearted by nature.

But Yo-han too, lately... What was the right way to put it? He wasn't exactly soft, but his demeanor had mellowed.

It wasn't that he'd become weaker. Just....

Right. Ever since he'd moved his residence to the Cathedral where the nun Ellie lived, his demeanor had softened a little.

If this had been the Yo-han Lee Mun-ryong had first met, when Se-geon recklessly jumped in, he wouldn't have stopped Grizzly.

He would've simply impaled Se-geon along with her and killed the girl who'd contracted with the demon.

But he hadn't.

".........."

Well, he didn't know what Yo-han himself thought about it, but this version of him was more approachable and easier to work with.

***

I joined up with Si-on below the abandoned building as she was about to head inside.

"Yo-han, you're here! Are you hurt-?"

"No."

Apparently, after Kim Ha-eun had dropped from the abandoned building to escape, Si-on had assumed something had happened to me and was about to enter.

"Where are Kim Ha-eun and Glasya-Labolas?"

"They're currently fleeing while avoiding combat."

Si-on spoke carefully, her voice tinged with sorrow.

"...So she really did stake her soul in a contract with a demon."

"Whatever the reason, it's a stupid fucking thing to do."

Contracting with a demon by wagering one's soul was like being so hungry that one traded gold for a salt-bread roll.

And after the bread was gone and thirst set in, the demon would offer cool seawater next.

"Still...."

I remembered the suspicious fire incident I'd read about in Ha-eun's file... the arson committed by the targets of Ha-eun's revenge.

"For someone who's already living in hell, there's not much reason not to take a demon's hand."

Well, whatever circumstances Ha-eun had didn't concern me.

Whether Ha-eun succeeded in her revenge or not, whether more civilians died here or not, none of it mattered much to me.

My job was to protect my peaceful and safe life.

As a Civilian Collaborator with the Special Operations Division, that meant capturing the demon's Contractor.

I looked out over the brightly lit city at night, the sun already down and lights glowing in every direction.

It was time to give chase.